


With a little help from my cat

by vivaldis_lover



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, First Meetings, Frumpkin is probably still Fey, M/M, Matchmaker Frumpkin (Critical Role), Past Abuse, Past Relationship(s), mentioned Fjord/Sabian, no magic, past Workplace Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:01:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26498305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vivaldis_lover/pseuds/vivaldis_lover
Summary: Frumpkin may or may not have a good intuition, but he is certain that new neighbor is perfect for his lonely owner. Forcing them to spend an afternoon together seems like a great way to get them to know each other...
Relationships: Fjord/Caleb Widogast
Comments: 6
Kudos: 125





	With a little help from my cat

**Author's Note:**

> In case anyone got worried, the past abuse is only mentioned, there are no graphic description. Not beta'd, there might be some mistakes.

One had to get creative with his pastimes sometimes.

Fjord might have lived in the new apartment for a few weeks already, but he still hadn’t managed to meet his neighbor. The apartment was quiet most of the time and he had never caught even a glimpse of the owner. He had heard the voice of a woman once. He found himself come up with weird and improbable theories about the person living there just to pass the time as he prepared dinner or did the chores around the house.

He realized there was a simple way to end this mystery by just knocking at his neighbor’s door, but this was a fun distraction. Walking out of his apartment, eavesdropping to catch some noise coming from that mysterious house, coming back home, picking up the faint sounds of pots banging together, as whoever was inside prepared dinner. He ate at least, that much was certain.

It also kept his mind away from Sabian and all the shit that had gone down not long before.

_Nope, not thinking about that._

He was actually late for an appointment, when he finally managed to catch his neighbor coming back home.

The guy in front of him was… normal. What had he expected?

He had red hair that reached the shoulders and tied back in a ponytail, beautiful – _beautiful?_ – blue eyes and the scruff of someone who had forgotten to shave for a few days in a row, but had decided that it looked good. He looked like a guy who didn’t eat enough. He was wearing an old and worn long coat and a hand-knitted scarf, made by someone who was clearly more enthusiastic than skilled.

There were a few seconds of awkward shuffling of feet, eyes meeting and avoiding.

“Uh, hello,” attempted Fjord.

He _really_ needed to go, but he couldn’t just throw away the opportunity to know this guy, after speculating for so long about what he was like. It wasn’t that this guy was particularly handsome or remarkable in any way. But he caught a sparkle in those eyes that immediately captivated him.

“Good morning,” said the guy. His voice was so unsure and meek, Fjord’s _hello_ felt over the top.

“I don’t think we have already met. My name’s Fjord, I just moved in.” He extended a hand and the man gingerly took it. Fjord felt the calluses of someone who still wrote with pen and paper.

“Oh, right. My name’s Caleb.” He spoke with a faint German accent.

In that moment a cat crawled out of the apartment and started rubbing against Fjord’s leg. It was a beautiful orange cat, lean and soft. The patterns of its fur made it look like a Bengala cat, but it was too small to be one.

“Oh, hi!” said Fjord. “I wish I could pet you, but I’m allergic.”

Caleb grabbed the cat and the animal peacefully let himself be picked up, making a gentle chirping sound as Caleb dropped him in the apartment.

“His name’s Frumpkin,” he said, closing the door, so the cat wouldn’t escape again. “And if you ever want to pet him, he’s very, uhm, hypoallergenic.”

“Is he?” said Fjord. “That’s… good.”

_Think of something to say, think of something to say, think of something to say!_ told himself Fjord.

“Well, good day, then,” mumbled Caleb, anticipating him and ending the conversation.

“Good day to you too!”

Fjord rushed down the hallway, aware of the penetrating gaze of the other man burning on the back of his head.

-

Frumpkin’s behavior had been weird for a few days now. Usually content with playing in the apartment, catching unfortunate bugs that flew inside and sleeping on his favorite pillows, he was now scratching daily at the door, begging to be let out.

“Where do you want to go? There’s only the hallway out there,” he told the cat.

Frumpkin complained.

Caleb sighed. To deny that he was not at least mildly interested in the new neighbor would have been dishonest, but his cat was straight up _desperate_.

“Have you taken a liking in the new neighbor? Is this the issue?”

In response Frumpkin scratched the door. Caleb stroked his soft fur.

He had been strange since he had met Fjord. It was the first time Frumpkin acted so friendly towards a stranger. He was never hostile, but never warm either. It had taken him a while to get cuddly with Veth – admittedly, sometimes Veth was accompanied by her very sweet but excitable son, so he had to make sure there was no child around every time Veth visited. Frumpkin didn’t like loud noises.

Which was understandable, given the circumstances Caleb had found him in: in an alley next to a busy street, overwhelmed by the loud noises of the horns and car engines. This small, wet thing, trembling and terrified. Caleb, who at the time had been at his lowest, had picked him up and took him home.

He had no idea how he had managed to hear the crying kitten on top of all those other noises. He had taken that as a sign of some kind.

Everything had happened so fast. Mother falling ill, then father, not enough money to pay for treatments, his awful boss treating him like a useless idiot for falling behind work, to the point where he had woken up one day thinking _“he dies or I do.”_

No one had died, but he’d quit his job.

And in the midst of that mess, he had found Frumpkin, who curled up in his lap when he felt like crying and dragged him out of bed to be fed, and then he was already up, so he might as well make something of his day.

Frumpkin had felt like a miracle.

He just seemed to be a little too smart for a cat every now and then.

-

“ _Schei_ _ß_ _e!_ ”

Fjord hear his neighbor’s voice and then the unmistakable sound of feet running down the hallway. After a few seconds of just listening to his frantic footsteps, he went to check in and see what was happening.

The moment he opened the door a blurry orange ball barged into his apartment, almost making him trip over his feet.

“What the-“ he managed to say, before Caleb materialized in front of him.

“I’m so sorry,” he panted. “My cat is acting a little crazy right now.”

He looked like he was about to step inside, then respectfully waited for Fjord to invite him in.

“Yeah, don’t worry, come inside and let’s get your cat.”

It wasn’t a big apartment, but cats had a special talent in finding corners of the house that even those who had built it had no idea existed. Fjord came out of the bathroom sighing, as Caleb shook his head from the kitchen.

“I’m really, _really_ sorry, he is a little wild, but he usually doesn’t hide into other people’s apartments…” said Caleb in a mortified tone. “You’ve seen the fur, he’s probably part Bengala, but he’s been well behaved so far-“

“Hey, it’s not a big deal, really. Don’t stress over it.”

They checked the bedroom and Fjord mentally thanked that he had remembered to do some cleaning that morning. Caleb was already clearly not at ease and he didn’t want to imagine how much more awkward the situation would have been with his underwear sprawled across the floor.

There was still no sign of Frumpkin. Somehow the cat had managed to disappear, almost by magic.

Caleb scratched the back of his head.

“I- uh…” he mumbled. “I don’t know what to do…”

Fjord noticed the man’s ears turning a faint red. He could have felt many ways in that situation, but his only though was how cute that was.

“Well,” he said. “We can just wait for the little devil to come out. Do you want some coffee in the meantime?”

Caleb clearly hadn’t expected that offer. For a moment he looked as if he was looking for a trap.

“I’d like coffee,” he finally said.

-

The situation was weird: two grown men unable to find a mischievous cat, drinking coffee as they waited for said cat to come out, forced to get to know each other by a stubborn pet.

Fjord would have been lying if he had said that he wasn’t enjoying the company. He had been incredibly lonely since that awful break up. If it took a stubborn cat to get another human being to sit at his kitchen table, so be it. He had company for the first time in weeks, even if that company was a stressed pet owner.

And Caleb was a genuinely pleasant man. He needed a little help starting a conversation, but after that he could easily hold one. He was vague about his current occupation and Fjord didn’t pry.

“Uhm,” started Caleb putting down his mug and checking his phone. “He usually starts asking for food around seven, so he should come out any minute time.”

“How did you get him? Is he adopted, a friend gave him to you…”

“I found him in the street, a couple of years ago. I was-“ he paused. “I was not in a good place. I don’t want to go into the details, but I found this cat and I thought, maybe he won’t fix things, but he will help.”

Fjord nodded.

“So I found myself with a loving and very asshole cat.”

“isn’t it in the nature of a cat to be an asshole?”

Caleb snorted, amused. “Probably, yeah.”

There was a pause as Fjord considered his next words. He saw it in Caleb’s eyes and his demeanor, that man did not have a pleasant past. It was in the way he shrunk to occupy as little space as possible, like he was trying to make people forget he was there.

“I know what that feels like.”

The other man didn’t say a word, but he suddenly raised his eyes to meet Fjord’s.

“You’re in a bad situation, a bad place, and you look for anything that looks like a sign.”

Caleb finished his coffee. “He made me leave the bed.”

Fjord thought about Sabian. This time he didn’t shy away from the pain the memories caused him. The cheating, the attempted reconciliation, and then coming back home to no Sabian and a bunch of missing stuff.

“Sometimes that’s all you need. A reason to leave the bed.”

He took the empty cups and put them in the sink.

“Thank you,” said Caleb.

He met those blue eyes again. There was a lot of gratitude in them, for the coffee and for not making that situation awkward. He thought about signs.

“Meow!”

Both the men froze and stared at each other, making sure they had both heard it. Then Caleb jumped up and went towards the source of the noise. They found Frumpkin under the bed.

“I swear, he wasn’t here before,” said Caleb.

“I believe you, he must have moved.”

“From where?”

Fjord shrugged. It was almost as Frumpkin had appeared from thin air.

He looked the feline in the eyes. They were a little too… aware to be the eyes of an ordinary pet. There was something about that cat that didn’t make sense.

But then Frumpkin blinked and the feeling vanished. He was just overthinking.

“Well, let’s leave Fjord alone now,” said Caleb, picking up his cat. He promptly walked to the door of the apartment, followed by Fjord. He watched Caleb look for the keys of his house, then stop right before stepping inside.

“Thank you for today.”

“Thank you too. It’s been a while since I had someone to chat with.”

Caleb smiled, sympathetic, and Frumpkin’s purring was the only sound for a few seconds.

_A sign._

“What if we had coffee one of these days?” blurted out Fjord. “An actual proper coffee,” he continued, desperately. “Not one forced by a wild cat.”

Caleb stopped with the door halfway closed. Fjord was still a stranger, but an interesting one. Neither of them had disclosed anything about their pasts, but he had the feeling that Fjord understood him. Maybe he could take a little leap of faith and trust him enough to go on a date.

“I’d love that.”

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are always appreciated!


End file.
